My bedroom door swung open and there in the doorway stood the towering frame of my father. My heart leapt into my throat and I quickly discarded the can of Bud Light from my hand onto my dresser top, desperately trying to hide it behind the television without raising suspicion. He slowly entered my room, closing the door behind him as my cousin, Kristina jumped off of the desk and stood slightly behind me off to my right.
"Hi Daddy. You're home early." I attempted a nonchalant greeting as my nervous stomach flip flopped, the beer not seeming like the best idea at this point. Dad smiled warmly at me and returned my greeting, "You're also home early baby, it's not quite 1 o'clock; why aren't you two in school?" My eyes immediately left his and traveled to the wall mirror as I tried to think of a solid excuse and knew I wouldn't be able to look into his eyes and lie to him. Thankfully, Kristina has always been good at thinking on her feet. "Oh, um, Uncle Nick, we were let out at 10am because of a teacher workshop thingy." I breathed a sigh of relief knowing this was a logical reason to miss school. "So Daddy, why are you home early? Decided to come home for lunch?" I asked, smiling and doing my best to change the focus to him with my sweet daddy's girl charm. His eyes found mine and pulled me to him as he spoke again, "I'm not finished asking questions yet, young lady."
I started nervously chewing on my bottom lip and tugging at the hem of my incredibly short black skirt, trying to slide it down and make it appear an appropriate length. This was *not* what he saw me leave the house in this morning and I was relatively certain he had no idea this was even part of my wardrobe. My mind was racing because I didn't know what he knew but I knew he knew something. I ran through the mounting list of offenses in my little mind and watched him closely, still trying to smile and charm my way into his good graces. What did he know??? I knew I was ditching school, I knew I forged his signature on a note today to ditch school (same as I have 6 other days this month), I knew I was drinking his beer, I knew I'd been pulled over for speeding on my way home to drink after leaving school this morning, I knew I was mouthy to his rookie campus cop and I knew that we had just successfully lied to my Daddy about a teacher workshop excusing us from school. I knew all of this......but I didn't know what he knew......I only knew he knew something.
"Natalie, I have a school calendar in the kitchen and it doesn't have any workshop listed until January." He stated as his eyes narrowed at mine. I thought I might throw up. I'm not certain many grown men could stand in a deadlock stare like this with my father.....I was withering FAST! Kristina piped up from behind me, just in the knick of time, "Uncle Nick...." Dad raised his right hand to silence her, not taking his eyes from mine. "You hush. Natalie Lynn??" My heart raced; first he called me 'young lady' and now my first & middle name??? Yep.....Dad definitely knew something and I was pretty sure I was going to be in a lot of trouble as soon as he peeled back the layers of this little ditch-day. I stood on my wobbly knees, fighting to maintain eye contact and desperately wishing I could lie on my feet like Kristina!
My eyes fell and I was soon staring down at my feet as I watched my fathers feet approaching mine until they were practically touching my toes. His right hand skimmed my hair as he tucked a loose tendril behind my ear before catching my chin and tilting my face back up to meet his. "Natalie Lynn??" His voice was soft....too soft. I just knew he had to know and I knew I was caught.....I just wasn't sure how much he knew.....yet. I bit the corner of my lip as my eyes searched his for reassurance. "You have something to tell me darling daughter of mine?" He asked as his eyes narrowed at mine and my eyes began to well with tears.
I slowly shook my head yes and pouted up at my Daddy, attempting to inspire leniency.
***************TO BE CONTINUED******************
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